At this point even if the Lakers hold on and win their remaining two games, there is no way they can get past anyone in a 7 games series without Kobe....unless the team rises to the top with heart and dedication ala the Kevin Ware/Louisville scenario.

Watched the 4th quarter of the Pacers-Bucks game last night. Bucks were ahead, but Pacers pulled in close and within striking distance towards the end. Only to be stymied by Stuckey getting the ball and going into charge full speed ahead mode. He did draw a foul on his first try but missed the first frito. Then in the next possession the defense played him straight up and which resulted in him jacking up an ill-advised, contested, desperation heave which bounced off the front of the rim. Game over. Even as the Pacers rally began I could see how this was going to end up, so it was almost like re-watching the tape. I wonder how long it'll be before Hibbert punches Stuckey.

With Knight, Middleton and Stuckey on the court, it was a game full of ex-Pistons. On the whole though, these were two bad teams slugging away at each other.

Chris Copeland is playing really well. It's too early to say if he can sustain his production, but he looks legit so far. We sure could use a player like that dude. He's averaging 16.8pts, 4.8rebs, 2ast and 3.5 three pointers a game this year. Career 41%+ from outside the arc.

Then I switched to the 3rd quarter of Charlotte-New Orleans game, which felt a little more like real basketball. New Orleans seemed to destroy Charlotte at will. Davis is a BEAST! His mid-range shot is automatic, sweet looking, and accurate. He reminded me of KG from his Minnesota days. You look at his career stats, and every year there is a substantial improvement. His FT%, reb, ast, stl, blks all show growth YOY and his TOV are down YOY. After you watch Davis, Drummond looks like a very tall Kyle Singler. The problem with Pelicans is that outside of Ryan Anderson, they have zero talent on the bench. Oh, and Eric Gordon sucks.

On the Charlotte side, big Al got his and didn't contribute anything on the other end. They need to pair him up with a great help defender and Marvin Williams is not it. Kemba Walker looked great at times, but went into JaVale McGee mode at other times. Overall, meh. Gary Neal looked good, but how long can he really sustain this level of play?

I'm really glad we didn't sign Lance Stephenson.

Maxiell sighting. 5pts/1reb.

This Charlotte team is really bad. It looked like the Pelicans calmly put away the game without ever needing to leave second gear.